As we gathered around tables set with gold, blue, and green chargers topped with china; iced water poured into crystal, flowers brimming over vases, we also noticed several lovely, mismatched little pitchers scattered amongst the setting. Some were plain creamware, others cut-glass, some painted with dainty flowers, others edged in gold. Joining us at the table set in her kitchen area, Sally Clarkson picked one up and reflected, “We wanted you to take with you a reminder of your need to be filled, as you constantly pour out to your families at home.”
Each of us thoughtfully chose one pitcher to accompany us on our trip home, representative of our lives as pour-ers. The pouring, it is an integral part of our lives as moms, isn’t it? We’d had a rare weekend of being poured into, and we would soon depart to return to our loved ones filled, ready once again to nourish and nurture.
For too many mamas, life is lived in the poured-out position. And now? We struggle with emptiness.
It’s the word we’d use to describe the interior of our souls, the seemingly inevitable result of pouring out, pouring out, pouring out of our very hearts day after day.
These precious people surrounding us are certainly needy, aren’t they? Needing attention and instruction. Needing clean clothes and healthy dinners. Needing stories read, math taught, infractions disciplined, relationships nurtured.
Mama, you’re a lovely pitcher. And yet … no pitcher left in the “pour” position can stay full long!
When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, He told her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water … whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:10, 14).
Later He told His disciples, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38).
That sounds like just what we need, doesn’t it?
If we are to have anything worth pouring out, we must take time once in awhile to right ourselves and get in place under the One who is constantly pouring out with no danger of running dry!
My chosen pitcher is currently full of the lovely blowsy roses that met me when I returned home the next day to my sweet family, and every time my eyes light on it, I smile.
How often do we need to drink water? Daily—and several times a day, right? So, too, we need to come to Jesus, daily asking Him to fill us again with the living water we are so busy pouring out.
We all need to take more time. Time to sit in the grass or comfy on your couch with a pen, a notebook, your Bible, maybe a candle and something nice to drink ... time to spend with Jesus in order to be refilled. This time is key to a full life, ready to be poured out because we have something to offer.
You are precious and important, sweet mama. Only you can take responsibility to remain full so you may pour out sweet water. Here’s my prayer for you, today:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).
May you always pour from a full pitcher, friend.
Blessings,
Misty Krasawski
Share this post: